Measuring Success

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> Key Indicators

Indicators are the measures of community-level progress toward achieving community-level outcomes.

The Collaboration Council monitors 30 key indicators of child well being. Taken together, these indicators convey the current reality of child and family well being in Montgomery County.

By monitoring these indicators over time, the community can effectively target limited resources to focus on evolving needs.

All Children’s Agenda’s Outcomes:

Healthy Children

Adults and children who feel well, physically and mentally, are more able to work, play and learn. With sufficient health care resources that are accessible and affordable, children and families can be healthier.

Key Indicators measured:

  • Infant Mortality
  • Low Birth Weight
  • Child Injury
  • Child Deaths
  • Asthma Hospitalization

Young Children Ready for School

The experiences and relationships that occur in the first years of children’s lives have a lasting impact on their present and future development, as well as on their readiness to learn.

Key Indicator measured:

  • Kindergarten Readiness

Success for Every Student

High expectations for academic achievement for all students, combined with skilled teachers, sound curriculum, adequate instructional materials, and family involvement, are essential for student learning.

Key Indicators measured:

  • Academic Performance in Reading and Mathematics
  • School Attendance and Truancy
  • High School Academic Achievement

Young People Prepared for the Workplace

School success includes preparation for life after high school. Partnerships between schools, businesses, higher education institutions, social service agencies and after-school programs can ensure that teens transition to young adulthood successfully.

Key Indicators measured:

  • Graduation
  • Dropouts
  • High School Attainment
  • Post-Secondary Expectations


Young People Making Smart Choices

Adolescence is a time of experimentation and testing of limits to prepare for mature decision making as adults. It is critical that we listen to our youth, hear their fears and concerns, and provide the support and skills they need to make smart choices.

Key Indicators measured:

  • Suspensions
  • Substance Use
  • Births to Adolescents
  • Sexually Transmitted Disease

Stable and Economically Secure Families

A home environment with nurturing adults who love, care for and protect their children is a cornerstone of healthy child development. Children with special challenges-physical, emotional or developmental-have a substantially better likelihood of achieving their potential if raised in their family homes, or in their home communities, rather than in distant residential facilities.

Key Indicators measured:

  • Unemployment
  • Homelessness
  • Out-of-Home Placements
  • Permanent Placements


Children Safe in Their Home, School and Community

In safe environments, children thrive, learn dream and explore. However, if children live in unsafe environments and it is left unaddressed, it will create community issues that only serve to undermine the system’s ability to offer its children every opportunity for success.

Key Indicators measured:

  • Child Abuse and Neglect
  • Juvenile Violent Deaths
  • Child Victimization
  • Juvenile Offenses
  • Department of Juvenile Services’ Intakes

Communities that Support Family Life

Resources and services create a community of people committed to the well-being of its children and families. An array of services should offer prevention for all, with early intervention at the first sign of problems and intensive intervention for those children for whom prior efforts have not been enough.

Key Indicators measured:

  • Prenatal Care
  • Affordable Housing Supply
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